Stranger Things Season 2 Will 'Humble' Hopper

David Harbour says that Sheriff Hopper will be 'humbled again' in the upcoming second season of Netflix's Stranger Things. Inspired heavily by the Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter films of the 1980s, Stranger Things was one of the biggest TV hits of last year. And while the show's cast was mostly made up of adolescent kids and young adults, one of the fan-favorite characters turned out to be Harbour's Jim Hopper, a down-on-his-luck sheriff in Hawkins, who quickly found himself entangled in the behind-the-scenes conspiracies and sci-fi violence behind the initial disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp).

Deadset on finding Will, Hopper's arc from seemingly selfish and inconsiderate sheriff to small town hero, was one of the most enthralling storylines that Stranger Things had to offer throughout its first season. But with the Upside Down only going to continue infecting and spilling over into the main reality in the show's upcoming second season, it doesn't sound like Hopper's trajectory moving forwards is going to be as straightforward as some fans and critics might have initially expected.

While promoting the show's second season at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, Harbour spoke with MTV about what fans should expect from Stranger Things' sophomore run. And amongst other things, Harbour revealed that his character will be forced to face a humbling that will leave him feeling humiliated:

"You have this story of this guy who's dead inside, who's kind of a jerk, who goes on this amazing heroic journey. You gotta go alright, it's a year later, and one of the most subtle, interesting arcs of this season to me is what happens to a person when they take a heroic action and they become somewhat of a superhero and what that does to their ego and what it does to their sense of control issues and what it does to maybe where they feel like they start to overextend themselves and they have to check their ego or be humbled again.

That's a humiliating thing for Hopper to feel, but it's a very human thing. [People] all make mistakes, and they're not as great as you want them to be and they let you down."

After establishing himself as a solid, go-to character actor over the years, Stranger Things turned out to be a breakout project for Harbour - not only catapulting him into the public consciousness as Hopper but later leading to him landing the role of Hellboy in Neil Marshall's new R-rated reboot. And now, with Stranger Things season 2 facing some incredibly high expectations, fans are going into the season equally as curious to see what Harbour might bring to the Netflix series once again, as they are to see how much deeper the series will be exploring its own, complex mythology.

Harbour doesn't elaborate on what exactly Hopper's "humbling" may be, or how it could factor into the character's other actions in the new season. But Matt and Ross Duffer have already proven themselves more than capable of taking beloved characters in sometimes unsatisfying directions for fans, which is to say that there's no telling if Stranger Things will be able to live up to its hype. After all, even some of the show's creative team and cast members acknowledging that fans may find the second season to be disappointing. But it's clear that creators Matt and Ross Duffer have a very elaborate plan in store for Stranger Things' future, and seeing just how much more Hopper evolves from season-to-season will just have to wait to be seen.